Things just keep turning in favor of Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri. On Tuesday as the reigning NBA champions took on the New Orleans Pelicans, fans were treated to the Raptors’ championship ring ceremony and banner raising at Scotiabank Arena.
Shortly after the two teams tipped off, news broke that Ujiri would not be facing any criminal charges for the reported dust-up he had trying to reach the floor at Oracle Arena last season after the Raptors finally beat the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.
The issue came when a sheriff refused to allow Ujiri access to the court. Initially, the Alameda sheriff’s department claimed that Ujiri had struck the officer in the face. Eventually, that story changed significantly. The police admitted that Ujiri had indeed shown his identification as president of the Raptors, and that he had instead pushed the officer after trying to walk past him to the floor while still being denied entry.
This change in story called into serious question the believability of the Alameda sheriff’s department on the matter. Still, it was reported that the department wanted to push forward with charges on Ujiri after reviewing the officer’s bodycam footage.
Now we have word from the Bay that no charges will be filed against Ujiri.
Via Twitter:
BREAKING: Alameda County District Attorney’s Office confirms it will not charge #Raptors President Masai Ujiri in connection to on-court incident at Game 6 of the NBA Finals. This after a meeting between Uriji and the Sheriff’s Department yesterday. pic.twitter.com/RkAlDAyIjT
— Lucas Meyer (@meyer_lucas) October 23, 2019
This is the right call, and no doubt Ujiri is happy he doesn’t have to deal with this any longer.
